Apocalyptic End
by Tawren
Summary: AU after s6 (Spike is dechipped)-The demon world launches a war on Sunnydale, opening the Hellmouth. PG for the amount of violence that is on the show.
1. Buffy's Last Fight

Apocalyptic End  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Buffy walked down the empty street. It was 10 o'clock at night, most people in Sunnydale were inside. Not here. But why would she be? She was, after all, the Slayer. She remembered back to the bright, sunny day when she was chosen. She was outside of her school, sitting on the steps when a slightly overweight man came up to her and told her that she was the 'Chosen One'. It was Merrick, her first watcher. When she had moved to Sunnydale, Rupert Giles had become her Watcher and together, along with Alexander (Xander) Harris and Willow Rosenberg, had formed the first Scooby Gang. Along the way, the group had gotten slightly larger and smaller, but they were the four core members. Buffy remembered back to last year, when things had gotten incredibly crazy with Tara (Willow's girlfriend) being shot by Warren, a pathetic loser who tried to be a villain, and Willow going dark magic and attacking the Scoobies. Xander had stopped her from literally ending the world, but afterwards, everyone was drained.  
  
Spike had come back, nearly three months later, de-chipped. She had hoped that he would remain a help to the Scoobies, but he wasn't. Spike had gone on a killing spree. She had tried to stop him, but instead found herself unable to do it. Spike had left for a while, apparently roaming Western Canada, but they hadn't heard from him in almost five months. She thought he was gone from her life. Gone like Anya. Anya was an ex-demon who had come to Sunnydale to grant Cordelia (super-popular girl at Sunnydale High who was a reluctant Scooby) a wish, but she ended up staying when her powers where destroyed. Anya fell in love with Xander, but on their wedding day, Xander backed out, not wanting to hurt her. She had returned to being a vengeance demon, and after helping defeat Willow, left for good.  
  
So many people had come and gone, but she was glad she still had friends like Xander and Willow. Giles wasn't around anymore, he was working for the Watcher's council in England. Apparently, he was now the second-in-command. Buffy couldn't remember stuff about that. Giles was her father figure, and she loved him, but things like his jobs full name weren't very important to her. Buffy sighed and looked around. There appeared to be no vampires around tonight.  
  
"Maybe I should just pack it in..." she said to herself. Just then, a vampire jumped out of a nearby alley and almost caught her by surprise. Buffy ducked and sent the vampire flying over her. The vampire landed on his feet and kicked Buffy in the back. Buffy fell to the ground, hitting her elbow. When she got up, she heard a horn honk and jumped out of the way, barely missing an incoming car. The vampire picked her up and threw her into the alley.   
  
"Slayers not so strong, is she?" The vampire mocked. Buffy kicked him in the stomach and sent him flying into a dumpster. She punched him in the face, but he grabbed her by the neck and picked her up. The vampire dropped her onto the ground and bent down to bite her. She kicked him in the face and got to her feet. Buffy went for a punch but the vampire ducked and tripped her. She flipped backwards and pushed off the wall, pushing the vampire down. She pulled a stake out of her pocket and went to stake him, but he grabbed her wrist and snapped it.  
  
"Ahhh!" Buffy screamed in pain. She dropped the stake. The vampire punched her twice and she stumbled backwards. Buffy punched him with her other hand and retrieved the stake. She threw it at him but he ducked down. The vampire charged at Buffy but she grabbed him by the neck and threw him head first into a door. The door crashed inwards. Buffy picked up the stake and followed him in. It was dark inside, but she could tell they were in an abandoned warehouse. Odds are she had been there before. But she couldn't see him. She strained her eyes, but she couldn't see him.  
  
Buffy looked around, staring at all the boxes and ladders. She turned around right as the vampire threw a crate at her face. The crate shattered and she fell to her knees. The vampire went for a punch but she blocked it. Buffy tripped him and he landed on a piece of wood that had shattered from the crate. He had the beginnings of a saying, but then he turned to dust.   
  
Buffy smiled, then grimaced. She was bleeding heavily from where the wood had cut her, and she had a broken wrist. She walked out the door and was heading straight home when she spotted a tall, black vampire feeding on a teenage girl.  
  
Buffy kicked the vampire in the back, but the girl was dead. The vampire smiled and picked up a baseball bat he had probably used to knock out the girl. The vampire swung it at Buffy, but she blocked it.  
  
With her broken wrist.  
  
"Ow!" Buffy screamed. She tried to kick the vampire but he was behind her. He laughed and snapped her neck. "Dawn..." Buffy was able to get out before the vampire dug his fangs into her neck and fed, then dropped her to the ground beside the other dead girl. The vampire disappeared into the alley as cop sirens could be heard approaching.  
  
Buffy Summers, the Vampire Slayer, was dead. 


	2. The War Begins

Chapter 2  
  
Willow, Xander, and Dawn sat in Xander's apartment. Xander was taking a week off work and Willow was not going to go to classes. Dawn had a week off school while they did repairs from the previous weeks battle (a vampire gang tried to take over the school, but in the process of destroying them, the school had taken serious damage). It was the day after Buffy had been killed by the vampire. When the body was identified, Dawn had called Xander and Willow and Giles right away. Giles would be in Sunnydale that night, but until then, the three were grieving. Buffy had been dead twice before. Once, Xander had brought her back through CPR (she had drowned) and the other time, she had died to save Dawn and the world (Willow had resurrected her three months later). But this time, there would be no "saving" her. They knew she was in heaven and that she was happy. However, they were still quite incredibly sad.  
  
"I can't believe it..." Xander started. He was not crying. He was trying to be a man, to be strong, but he was having a hard time keeping together. Willow and Dawn both had a mountain of kleenex tissues at their feet. Willow patted him on the back. Dawn didn't even realize they were talking. She was incredibly sad, this time more so, knowing that Buffy wouldn't be coming back.   
  
That night, Xander returned to his apartment, carrying a box of pizza (he had left to get dinner). He found Giles inside, with Willow and Dawn. Xander set the pizza down and walked up to the three. Willow had stopped crying an hour ago, but Dawn was still going on. Xander knew Dawn how sad Dawn was. The truth was, he was feeling it too. It would take a while for the pain to cease.   
  
Giles and Willow comforted Dawn as Xander looked out the window. The town was silent. He looked at his watch. 12:03. Past midnight. Xander sighed. Just 26 hours ago, Buffy had been killed. He would never see her again. He would have to make funeral arrangements tomorrow. Giles had to go through that with both Jenny Calendar and Joyce, Buffy and Dawn's mom. No, Xander would do it. He had to. It was his...responsibility, he guessed. He felt that he had to do it. That he had to...  
  
"What's that?" Xander spoke. Giles, Dawn, and Willow snapped their heads toward him. He pointed at a crowd in the middle of the street below. They were staring right up at him. "Some of them look like regular people, but...oh my god. Demons!" Just as he said that, a rumble shaked the building. He could hear screams from the floors below and footsteps thundering up the stairs. He knew what it was.  
  
"Guys, they know! They know that Buffy's dead!" Xander screamed, grabbing a crossbow and axe from his weapons bag he kept in his closet. He put some stakes in his coat as Giles handed weapons to Willow and Dawn. Dawn glared angrily at the door. 'Good,' Xander thought. 'Get rid of some of the empty rage floating in her.'  
  
The rumbling grew louder. Xander aimed the crossbow at the door. Willow held an assault rifle in her arms and had a sword leaning on the wall behind her. Giles had an axe and the trolls hammer they had used to defeat Glory, the Hellgod who tried to kill Dawn to get back to her dimension. Dawn held an axe and she too had a sword behind her. Xander glanced at the others, then snapped back to the door as it crashed in. Three vampires ran in. Xander got one through the heart with an arrow, and he turned to dust. Willow shot a vampire through the neck and he collapsed in pain. The third vampire charged them and Giles hit him with the hammer, decapitating him.  
  
Willow allowed a brief smile, thinking they could beat the demons if they came in like that one at a time. But they didn't. Right after she thought that, the walls beside the door got smashed through and a huge group of demons and vampires barged in. Xander used the axe and was killing the demons left and right, but Dawn and the others were being cornered. Giles smashed a green demons face in with the hammer, but another demon grabbed him from behind and threw him out the window.   
  
Willow hadn't used magic in a while, but she knew she had to. She called out a spell, and Giles stopped falling right before the pavement. He started fighting some demons on the street, but he was still outnumbered. "Dawn, out the window!" Willow called, and Dawn trusted her, jumping out. Willow did the same spell, lowering Dawn to the pavement. Willow looked back and saw the few remaining demons encircle Xander. She charged at one horned demon and threw him into the wall.  
  
Giles and Dawn raced to Giles car. A few of the demons who were on the street saw them, and chased the two. Dawn threw a sword at one, getting it through the heart, but the other kept coming. Giles herded Dawn into his car and hurried to turn it on. Right as he pulled out of the parking lot, a snake-like demon jumped onto the back of the car. They pulled onto the highway as the snake-demon tried to attack them. Dawn stuck her head out the window and hit it with the axe. Giles swerved and the demon fell off.  
  
At the same time, Willow and Xander were finishing off the last of the demons. These were obviously not very good opponents, as they had been brought down quickly and relatively easily even though lots of them attacked. The two friends raced to the roof, trying to figure out what to do.  
  
"Okay Wil, they obviously know the Slayer is gone."  
  
"Yeah, but why did they attack us?"  
  
"I'd guess it's because we are the only ones left to stop them from...running...the whole..."  
  
Xander stopped because they reached the roof, and saw what Sunnydale looked like. Fires raged everywhere, and screams of the citizens could easily be heard even this high up.   
  
"Xander, what are we going to do?" Willow asked, distraught.  
  
---  
  
A group of nine vampires were in an abandoned warehouse towards the south of Sunnydale. They were dressed in ceremonial black garb, and stood in a semi-circle around a small fire, with a bone dangling above it. They were chanting the same thing over and over. They had been doing this for a few hours, since the news about the Vampire Slayers death had broke. Suddenly, a small piece of dust began to circle above the fire. The vampires continued to chant, realizing that they were almost done. The dust began to formulate, growing larger and larger, until a familiar figure stood, with the fire dying out. The vampires now had huge smiles on their faces.  
  
"I'm...back!" The Master crowed. 


	3. Hellmouth

Chapter 3  
  
Spike sat in the motel room he was renting in San Diego, California. He was flipping channels, muttering under his breath about the "freakin' teletubbies" when he noticed something that caught his eyes. He flipped back to channel 13 and saw the words "Sunnydale, California riot!" at the bottom of the screen. He turned up the sound.  
  
"I repeat, Sunnydale California is in a riot! Almost one hundred strangely clothed yet dangerous rioters have been counted. So far, riot teams from the local police and L.A. have done no good. Police suspect strong amounts of PCP and LSD are involved. Sunnydale is currently being evacuated. More on this story at ten..." the announcer was cut off by Spike shutting off the TV.  
  
"Time to go check out the old hometown," Spike chuckled to himself, before leaving the room, getting on his motorbike, and roaring out of San Diego. He was on his way to Sunnydale...  
  
---  
  
Giles and Dawn headed towards the Bronze, which they expected would be empty for the moment. Giles parked and the two ran inside. As expected, it was empty. Giles got two sodas out of the counter for them to drink. They were going to stay there until they knew it was safe to go out.  
  
---  
  
Xander and Willow raced back down the stairs and out onto the street, still carrying their weapons. They headed towards the center of the town, where lots of the demon activity was going on. They staked a couple of vampires along the way, but when they got to the center of town, they saw nothing. They stood there, looking around. Nothing. No sound. Nothing.  
  
"What's going on?" Xander wondered out loud.  
  
"I don't know," Willow replied, even though she knew he wasn't really expecting her to know.  
  
"Where are they?" Xander asked, noting that all the fires were still going on, even though the demons weren't there.  
  
---  
  
The Master smiled and laughed a demonic laugh. His nine remaining followers were ecstatic that he had been brought back from hell.  
  
"Thank you, my followers," he began. "I am free again! Last time I was free, that Slayer killed me. Where is she now?"  
  
One of the smaller vampires responded. "She's uh, she's, well, dead..."  
  
"DEAD?" The Master screamed. The followers were worried that he was angry. He wasn't. "That's wonderful! No opposition then, I assume? Good. Well, I think it's time we bring the Old Ones back to this world. Won't be long before another Slayer shows up! Now...  
  
Let's open that Hellmouth."  
  
---  
  
Giles poked his head out the door. An eery silence filled the air. "Dawn, come on." He urged. They went into the alley, expecting some vampires or some demons. Nothing. At all.  
  
They walked onto the street. Nobody was there. "What the..." Dawn began.   
  
They stood there for 10 minutes looking around. Then, the ground began to rumble. "Dawn, get down!" Giles screamed. It seemed like a regular earthquake. He had seen these before in Sunnydale. But the timing of this...something was wrong.  
  
The earthquake went on for about 5 minutes, then stopped. Giles breathed a sigh of relief. Until he heard the scream. The deadly, ear-piercing scream he had had nightmares about since a year after he became Buffy's Watcher. Dawn didn't recognize it, but he did.  
  
"Dawn! Go find Willow and Xander! Now!" Giles screamed before taking off, full speed, towards the ruins of old Sunnydale High. It had been destroyed about four years ago, when to kill a pure demon (The Mayor) they had to blow it up at Graduation. It had been quite the battle. But what none of the students (who had helped in the fight) except for Buffy, Xander, Willow, Oz, and Cordelia knew was that the Hellmouth was right on top of the library. Right on top. And the first thing to come out of it, both times it had been temporarily opened during the seven years of his in Sunnydale, was a hideous multiple headed snake monster. It scared him. And now, the Hellmouth was opened. He didn't know who did it, but it had been done.  
  
Dawn ran the other way, screaming "Xander! Willow!" and looking for them in the seemingly-deserted town.   
  
---  
  
The Master stood on a pile of boxes in front of a hundred demons and nearly two hundred vampires, also known as Sunnydale's current demon population. One of his followers was a dabller in Black Arts, and had transported them here to be gathered under the Master. Of course, the Master was still going to open the Hellmouth. He now had an army to fight with him though. They were prepared to head out and assist the demons that would leave the Hellmouth after it was opened.  
  
And he knew it was. He had opened it before, once, before Buffy killed him. He had been trapped underground in 1937, stuck in a church buried by a great earthquake. A magical force kept him underground, but when he killed Buffy (drowning her, Xander later used CPR to revive her) he was set free. He had temporarily opened the Hellmouth, but Buffy had returned and killed him. But she was dead now. He was unstoppable.   
  
He had sent three of his most faithful followers to open the Hellmouth. Of course they had died to open it, but he didn't care. And with the scream he heard and the new power he felt, he knew it was working. He felt great. He sent his army out into the town, formalized, powerful. He would soon own the world. It was going to be great.   
  
Of course, people would try to close the Hellmouth. Possibly some demon hunters, or whatnot. But it could be opened again. Quite easily. But it could also easily be closed. By killing the person who had power over it. And he himself, the Master, had the power over it. He stood, looking out onto the town through an open window, watching his forces. He closed his eyes, yet he could still see them. Making people leave their homes. Blowing things up. But he took his mind of that. He focused on the Hellmouth, using his power to make it expand. Slowly.  
  
But surely. It was growing larger. Already, the first demon was beginning to climb out. He was making the Hellmouth grow larger, growing about an inch wider a minute. Soon enough, it would be large enough for all of hell to exit it within hours. A great plan. And this time, he would succeed.  
  
SHWIP!  
  
The Master broke his concentration and grabbed an arrow from hitting his heart just in time. Another milli-second and he would be dead. Someone was trying to kill him. He growled, and snapped his head downwards, looking at the person who was holding a crossbow and had launched the arrow. No. Not a person, exactly. Different.   
  
"A werewolf?" The Master asked, surprised.  
  
---  
  
Xander and Willow heard some screams and whoops. They turned around and saw a huge wave of vampires approaching.  
  
"Willow," Xander began. "I love..." he was cut off by the wave of vampires trampling them. Willow got carried up towards the front, while the vampires seemed the move away from Xander. He had a stake out and was just hitting whoever he could. Finally, the 'stampede seemed to be over'. Two vampires stayed behind, hoping to drain him.  
  
Xander ducked a punch and kicked the other vampire in the gut. The first vampire grabbed him by the collar and went to bite him but Xander stuck the stake into the vampires heart. The vampire screamed and turned to dust. The other vampire jumped on his back and tried to twist his neck, but Xander bent over and sent the vampire tumbling forward. Xander swung the stake at the crouching vampire but the vampire ducked and tripped Xander.  
  
The vampire stood over him and threw the stake away. Xander punched the vampire in the face and got to his feet. He punched the vampire again and it fell to its knees. Xander dived and grabbed the stake. The vampire charged at him but he was able to stake it through the heart. The vampire turned to dust. Xander put the stake back in his pocket and began searching for Willow.  
  
He found her about 100 feet away from him, lying on the ground in pain. Her shirt was ripped, she was bleeding pretty bad. She had been trampled on noticably.  
  
"Will!" Xander said, getting to his knees and helping her up. "Are you okay?"  
  
She sighed and held her neck. "Yeah, I think so. Most of them didn't notice us, though. Strange. They had empty eyes. I don't think they knew what they were doing. I wonder where they're going..."  
  
"Let's not worry about that, Will. We need to get you cleaned up. Lets head for the Bronze."  
  
And they set out, trying to piece together yet another confusing piece of the puzzle.  
  
---  
  
Giles ran into the school, heading straight to where the library had been. He walked into the barren and dark room and his inner ear nearly split in pain. The three-headed snake demon was almost fully out of the Hellmouth and it was very joyful. It reared one head back and roared right before Giles charged at it. The demon wrapped a tendril around Giles' weapon, the troll hammer. It threw the hammer backwards and it was on top of a pile of rubble.  
  
Giles ducked another tendril swing but was hit by another and sent hurtling backwards in the crumbling remains of a wall. The wall fell to bits over Giles, who had went head first into it. The demon roared even louder.   
  
The demon finally got out of the Hellmouth. It was back on the mortal plane for the first time in a couple thousand years. It had almost 20 spider-like legs, and it leaped up to where the weak roof was. It was free! The demon screamed and the town seemed to stop for a few seconds. It then scurried off, leaving the next demons to be freed from hell. 


End file.
